I wouldn't recommend shrimp until the tank is cycled. If the op is willing to wait at least 4 months then yes. If not get a snail first and wait on the shrimp. Adding them to a non cycled environment is risky. My friend is a marine biologist and will scream at you for adding shrimp without having the tank cycled at least two months. He also hates all tanks under 20 gallons as they are all too small for any useful setup in his mind but I still agree on the shrimp part. They are cool though, my dad has them in his 100 gallon clownfish breeding tank.

I was told by a friend to do that. To give him a girlfriend *rollseyes* but once I get to collage all I will be able to have is a 5 gallon so only room for one betta.

Don't give chocolate too much grief he meant well and so did you. I like it when to people flair and show there passion for something, but that got a bit out of hand.
I was thinking of a single mystery snail, but I heard that they were escape artist and the tank I'm looking at will require me to make a make shift hood of some sort.

All snails can escape a tank but artists they are not. My guy though very smart has yet to escape my tank and last night I left the lid off all night xD For the most part they like to stay in the water unless it's a female trying to lay her eggs or a very hungry snail with no food in the tank. You can easily remedy that. I get omega one veggie rounds and feed greens like spinach and cucumbers and blanched zucini and my snails adores the stuff. They are so much fun to watch and if you get stuck with a 5 gallon you can still keep the snail.

A single one would be fine but it would have to be ordered online and shipped. Those things are hard to find in petshops unless you find a great fishstore. Someplace that carried saltwater MAY have something like that.